"Anything Dizzy [Gillespie] does, I think, he has proven himself a genuis- he can try anthing." - Art Blakey
source: Interview with WUSS Radio (August 18, 1977)
Showing posts with label Dizzy Gillespie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dizzy Gillespie. Show all posts
Miles Davis Quotes
"I don't hold it against Dizzy [Gillespie], you know, but if a guy wants to play a certain way, you work towards that. If he stops — he's full of crap, you know. I mean, I wouldn't do it, for no money, or for no place in the white man's world. Not just to make money, because then you don't have anything. You don't have as much money as whoever you're trying to ape; that's making money by being commercial. Then you don't have anything to give the world; so you're not important. You might as well be dead." - Miles Davis
source: Interview with Les Tomkins, 1969
source: Interview with Les Tomkins, 1969
Danilo Perez Quotes
"[Dizzy Gillespie's] music brings a joyful experience. This is one of the things that we have to keep in jazz." - Danilo Perez
Danilo Perez Quotes
"I call Dizzy [Gillespie] the global jazz ambassador. He spent his life looking for the common tones with Africa, with Latin America, even with India. He did a lot of experiments. He brought a lot of people from different backgrounds together." - Danilo Perez
Taking Dizzy's music to exotic places
In a way, it was almost inevitable that the Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez would organize "Things to Come: 21st Century Dizzy," an exploration of the music of Dizzy Gillespie playing Friday night at Symphony Center.
Perez had worked in Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra in the 1980s, a role that not only helped launch Perez's international career but, equally important, tuned him in to Gillespie's global view of music. For with the United Nation Orchestra, and with musical experiments dating to the 1940s, Gillespie showed that the future of jazz would embrace cultural traditions from around the planet.
So when Perez takes the stage this evening, he'll be partnering with a far-flung collection of players, including Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sanchez, Iraqi-American trumpeter (and former Chicagoan) Amir ElSaffar and Indian-American saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
"I call Dizzy the global jazz ambassador," says Perez. "He spent his life looking for the common tones with Africa, with Latin America, even with India.
"He did a lot of experiments. He brought a lot of people from different backgrounds together."
None of Gillespie's cross-cultural ventures was more influential than his work in the 1940s with arranger Maurio Bauza and percussionist Chano Pozo, both Cubans. This groundbreaking partnership produced jazz classics such as "Tin Tin Deo," "Manteca" and "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop." It also opened new possibilities for Latin jazz and encouraged subsequent generations of musicians to explore their own cultural roots — through jazz.
Few of Gillespie's disciples have carried his mission of globalization further than Perez, whose work with saxophonist Sanchez and others during the past 20 years has brought vivid ethnic currents into jazz.
Which is precisely Perez's goal.
"The way Dizzy talked to me at the end of his life, I felt really responsible" to continue Gillespie's mission, says Perez.
"When you played with Dizzy, you found yourself with people from so many different backgrounds. He encouraged us to look for the common tones in our own music and in our own roots. He always talked about Latinos learning more about jazz, and jazz musicians learning more about Latin America.
"I think his Bahai faith also played a role in this desire."
For Friday night's program, Perez and friends will be applying Gillespie's lessons to Gillespie's music, with several of the musicians creating world-music versions of classic works such as "Salt Peanuts" (reimagined by Mahanthappa), "Manteca" (newly arranged by Perez), and "Woody 'n You" (rewritten by Sanchez).
Even reconceived via the techniques of India, Panama and Puerto Rico, however, these tunes convey Gillespie's central message, says Perez.
"When I play his music, I feel very optimistic," says Perez. "His music brings a joyful experience. This is one of the things that we have to keep in jazz."
Perez had worked in Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra in the 1980s, a role that not only helped launch Perez's international career but, equally important, tuned him in to Gillespie's global view of music. For with the United Nation Orchestra, and with musical experiments dating to the 1940s, Gillespie showed that the future of jazz would embrace cultural traditions from around the planet.
So when Perez takes the stage this evening, he'll be partnering with a far-flung collection of players, including Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sanchez, Iraqi-American trumpeter (and former Chicagoan) Amir ElSaffar and Indian-American saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa.
"I call Dizzy the global jazz ambassador," says Perez. "He spent his life looking for the common tones with Africa, with Latin America, even with India.
"He did a lot of experiments. He brought a lot of people from different backgrounds together."
None of Gillespie's cross-cultural ventures was more influential than his work in the 1940s with arranger Maurio Bauza and percussionist Chano Pozo, both Cubans. This groundbreaking partnership produced jazz classics such as "Tin Tin Deo," "Manteca" and "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop." It also opened new possibilities for Latin jazz and encouraged subsequent generations of musicians to explore their own cultural roots — through jazz.
Few of Gillespie's disciples have carried his mission of globalization further than Perez, whose work with saxophonist Sanchez and others during the past 20 years has brought vivid ethnic currents into jazz.
Which is precisely Perez's goal.
"The way Dizzy talked to me at the end of his life, I felt really responsible" to continue Gillespie's mission, says Perez.
"When you played with Dizzy, you found yourself with people from so many different backgrounds. He encouraged us to look for the common tones in our own music and in our own roots. He always talked about Latinos learning more about jazz, and jazz musicians learning more about Latin America.
"I think his Bahai faith also played a role in this desire."
For Friday night's program, Perez and friends will be applying Gillespie's lessons to Gillespie's music, with several of the musicians creating world-music versions of classic works such as "Salt Peanuts" (reimagined by Mahanthappa), "Manteca" (newly arranged by Perez), and "Woody 'n You" (rewritten by Sanchez).
Even reconceived via the techniques of India, Panama and Puerto Rico, however, these tunes convey Gillespie's central message, says Perez.
"When I play his music, I feel very optimistic," says Perez. "His music brings a joyful experience. This is one of the things that we have to keep in jazz."
Charles Mingus Quotes
"I, myself, came to enjoy the players who didn't only just swing but who invented new rhythmic patterns, along with new melodic concepts. And those people are: Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Parker, who is the greatest genius of all to me because he changed the whole era around." - Charles Mingus
Milt Jackson Quotes
"Once you see him standing out there in front of that big band, he is really phenomenal and dynamic and it's just like, well, he should never be without a band." - Milt Jackson (on Dizzy Gillespie)
Ray Brown Quotes
"I went up to his [Hank Jones'] house and there were four guys there: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Max Roach. Not a bad place to be. Scared shitless, but a nice place to be on my second day in New York." - Ray Brown
Milt Jackson Quotes
"In the daytime, we're sitting about and everybody's on edge as a matter of fact. It may even have been a little bit hostile, because they could not wait until night time came. They would be just overjoyed when it turned dark and we knew it was approaching time to go to work. 'Cause we couldn't wait to sit down and get to that band and hit the first note. From the first note to the last you could hear everything. You could hear that happiness, that togetherness, you can hear it all in that music." - Milt Jackson (on playing with Dizzy Gillespie's band)
Freddie Hubbard Quotes
"When I got started in New York, it wasn't like it is now. If you were different from Miles and Dizzy, it was very difficult to make gigs and make money with your own style." - Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard Quotes
"Dizzy used to tell me that I am playing too hard. He used to say to not give everything. Miles used to tell me that too." - Freddie Hubbard
Dizzy Gillespie Quotes
"I always try to teach by example and not force my ideas on a young musician. One of the reasons we're here is to be a part of this process of exchange." - Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie Quotes
"How do I know why Miles walks off the stage? Why don't you ask him? And besides, maybe we'd all like to be like Miles, and just haven't got the guts." - Dizzy Gillespie
John Coltrane Quotes
"I think I was first awakened to musical exploration by Dizzy Gillespie and Bird. It was through their work that I began to learn about musical structures and the more theoretical aspects of music." - John Coltrane
